Libby Gill

Biography

An entertainment industry veteran, Libby Gill spent fifteen years heading public relations and corporation communications as senior vice President at Universal Studios; vice president at Sony Pictures Entertainment and Turner Broadcasting and was also the PR/branding brain behind the launch of the Dr. Phil Show.

Libby is now an internationally respected executive coach, employee engagement expert and bestselling author. She has shared her success strategies on the Today Show, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, CNN, NPR, Oprah & Friends Radio Network, Fox News, CBS Early Show, and in Time Magazine, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, O Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Self and many more.

With a focus on inspiring excellence in times of uncertainty, Libby delivers keynote addresses and training programs for companies desiring to maximize a multi-generational workforce. Her “Clarify, Simplify & Execute” process helps individuals and organizations increase employee engagement, create high-passion teams and lead the Gen Y workforce to success, critically important as millions of Baby Boomers are poised for retirement, potentially taking decades of experience and expertise with them.

Among her corporate achievements, Libby is most proud of having guided many young employees to career success. Her former staff members now hold senior management positions at CBS Entertainment, ESPN, Universal, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sony, Disney/ABC and many other organizations. Her coaching clients have also achieved great success in transitioning from one industry to another, climbing the corporate ladder and launching entrepreneurial ventures.

Libby was instrumental in creating the comprehensive media launch that catapulted Dr. Phil to the highest ratings in daytime television since the Oprah Winfrey Show debuted. After starting her career as a temporary office assistant, in just five years Libby worked her way up to VP of publicity, advertising and promotion at Sony before moving on to Turner Broadcasting and Universal. In one of several unusual career moves, Libby then moved into a creative position and became Vice President of television programming and development for Universal's Studios USA.

Having decided she needed to completely re-balance her life, Libby left the corporate world and founded Libby Gill & Company in November 2000, which is focused on creating client success through powerful personal and business brands. As she was reinventing her professional life, Libby's personal life also underwent a major transition. She chronicled her journey of overcoming the self-perceived limitations left behind by a family legacy of alcoholism, divorce and mental illness in her bestselling book TRAVELING HOPEFULLY: How to Lose Your Baggage and Jumpstart Your Life (St. Martin's Press).

Libby's clients have included Microsoft, Pfizer, USAA, Lycos, Sprint, Capital One, Lockheed Martin, Deloitte & Touche, Hewlett-Packard, Natural Products Association, The Boeing Company, Triad Hospitals, PricewaterhouseCoopers, International Association of Administrative Professionals, Cadbury Schweppes, PitneyBowes, State Farm, Parsons Brinckerhoff, National Kitchen & Bath Association and more.

Libby, who is the mother of two teen-aged sons, lives in Los Angeles, California. She can sometimes be found chaperoning high school debate competitions or working backstage in the middle school drama department.

Publications

You Unstuck
Everyone gets stuck. It's part of the human condition. Maybe you're stuck in your career, finances, health or relationships. Or maybe life dealt you a bad blow like a layoff or divorce. The real question is this: What are you going to do about it?

YOU UNSTUCK is designed to give you hope and tools, backed with science, to get you past your sticking points. Hope because that's the one thing you can't afford to lose if you're going to succeed in work and life. Science because you need the latest brain research to understand why you behave the way you do. And tools because the process of life change is so misunderstood, you may have been going at it all wrong. Otherwise, you wouldn't be stuck right now, would you? It's like trying to replace a flat tire without a jack. The more you try, the more hopeless you feel and more hopeless you feel, the more stuck you are. Author Libby Gill wants to help you change all that.

First, see if any of these describe you:

You know what changes you need to make but you're not making them

You know what you want but you have no idea how to get there

You've lost a job, a loved one or a nest egg and it's got you totally shut down

Your life is basically good, but there's one area you keep avoiding

You are living other people's ideas about who you are and ignoring your own

You're willing to change everything about your life except the one thing that really matters

Getting you unstuck is less about changing your behavior than it is about changing your beliefs. Sure, you've got to take action. Your body isn't going to miraculously drop those 30 or 300 pounds all by itself, no matter what the latest diet guru tells you. Your dream job isn't going to land in your lap unless you go out and find it. But if you don't change your belief system as you're changing your behavior, your results will probably be short-lived and possibly even counterproductive. That's why most dieters put all the weight they lose (and more) right back on after the diet is done.

Titles

INSPIRING EXCELLENCE IN UNCERTAIN TIMES: Strategies for Thriving through Chaos & Change
Organizations can depend on only one constant - change. As they struggle to cope with changes in technology, the global economy and virtual teams, most organizations are unprepared for the next seismic shift in the workplace. In just two years, 76 million Baby Boomers - one-third of our workforce - will be ready for retirement, taking decades of experience and expertise with them.

An entertainment industry veteran, Libby held senior management positions in public relations and communications at Sony, Universal and Turner Broadcasting. During her 15-year studio tenure, she survived more than a dozen management restructures, transitions and takeovers. Despite instability and stress, she was able to make positive advances with each change and to help others do the same. Now, with her proven process of “Clarify, Simplify & Execute,” Libby guides companies to not only motivate their employees to excel in times of change as they prepare for the potentially crippling workforce shortage.

Libby helps leaders - at all levels - inspire excellence in uncertain times by invigorating employees for greater productivity; managing Millennial/Gen Y workers to excel; and utilizing innovative strategies to re-engage and retain a select senior workforce.

LEADING GEN Y TO GREATNESS: Managing the Multi-Generational Workforce
For the first time in our history, we have four distinct age groups working side by side in our nation's offices, factories and showrooms. If navigating the generational divide weren't challenge enough, in just two years more than one-third of our workforce will begin to retire, taking decades of knowledge and experience with them.

Though 80 million Millennials, also known as Gen Y, are entering the workplace, they don't have the judgment, maturity or specialized skills of the departing Baby Boomers. The challenge organizations are facing - or refusing to face - is how to transfer expertise and corporate history from Boomer to Gen Y as quickly and effectively as possible.

Taking a multi-generational approach, Libby adapts her proven “Clarify, Simplify, Execute” methodology to tap into the distinct mindsets of each age group. She shows Gen Y-ers how to collaborate with older counterparts and why the famous Millennial sense of entitlement is counter productive to their growth. Working with the Boomers and GenX-ers, she guides these senior managers to unlock the potential greatness of our future Gen Y leaders.

A master at mentoring young people, Libby was responsible for shaping the careers of numerous junior employees during her 15-year tenure as an entertainment industry executive. Her former staff members, students and clients now hold senior management positions at CBS Entertainment, ESPN, Universal, Sony, Disney/ABC, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and many other organizations.

Now, in addition to working directly with Generation Y, Libby speaks to all those charged with shaping their young workforce. She offers specific tactics to coach without coddling and manage without minimizing so that senior staffers can lead Gen Y to achieve and maintain a level of excellence beyond their years.

CREATING HIGH-PASSION TEAMS: Maintaining a Culture of Excellence & Engagement
In work as in life, nothing kills passion faster than unwarranted criticism and constant backbiting. Conversely, nothing builds passion faster than curiosity, trust and respect. And, more than ever before, teamwork requires passion.

With the increased complexity of cross-business reporting structures, interdependent skill-sets and the advent of the virtual office, it is essential that individuals learn to function in well-integrated teams that create long-term results.

In spite of - or perhaps because of - having come from an industry better known for competition than collaboration, Libby is a master at inspiring teamwork. Her unique methodology brings passion back to the team experience, and, ultimately, to the all-important client/customer experience. By guiding groups to let go of finger pointing and frustration, Libby challenges teams to be authentically engaged and willing to take bold risks, within themselves, with each other and with their work.

Libby shares strategies for building teams based on a healthy respect for individual differences, a shared mission and the Socratic process of question and dialogue. No more “death by teamwork” as Libby guides groups to see how powerful they can be by pooling strengths, resources and knowledge.

BRANDING YOU: 5 Strategies from Standing Out from the Herd
Is your brand powerfully positioning you and your business for long-term success? Can you articulate your brand so succinctly and memorably that it differentiates you from your competitors and makes you stand out from the crowd? Do you have a brand plan for continuous growth and personal excellence?

Libby Gill was the head of television PR and Corporate Communications for Universal, Sony & Turner Broadcasting - and the branding brain behind the launch of the Dr. Phil Show. As the former spokesperson for these media powerhouses, Libby is a master at creating winning spin. No wonder Good Housekeeping described her as "Dr. Phil's secret weapon." And Dr. Phil himself said, "I've come to respect and appreciate her as a human being as much as I rely on her instincts and judgment as a professional."

In her high-energy, interactive presentation - including audience participation exercise "Brand-o-rama" - Libby shows participants how to create emotionally authentic personal brands that will help them excel as individuals and team members.

You'll get bottom-line results to:

Create your personal "success spin" so you can succinctly and memorably position yourself and your company in any situation

Establish immediate rapport with colleagues, customers and clients

Differentiate yourself from internal and external competitors, even when they offer similar skills, services or products as you

Repackage yourself to revitalize your role within your team or company

Learn to use the media without letting the media use you

Master leadership skills and establish expert status in your field

Promote team-building through improved communication, collaboration and connection

Build a cycle of continuous improvement and brand excellence to see better bottom-line results fast

Having coached entrepreneurs, small business owners and mega-corporations to create unbeatable brands, Libby can customize a program to fit your needs and objectives. Further, Libby guarantees that participants will leave your event with relevant information, timely concepts and immediately applicable strategies for success!